For Sure and For Certain

One of my favorite things to do each summer is to go to Lancaster County for a mini vacation from the busyness of day-to-day going to appointments and doing this and finishing that and you get the picture. I have read practically every Amish-fiction book ever written. I love Amish anything. I love the expressions like "Danke" and the one in the title of this blog. I didn't think I would be able to take my yearly excursion to Amishland because of my mom's daily care. However,thanks to family and the suggestion of a dear friend, things have worked out for me to get away for a couple of days. Danke! West Virginia is what my father called God's Country. He would take a deep breath as soon as we would cross over into Almost Heaven and proclaim that the air was so much cleaner. Well, Pennsylvania Dutch Country has air filled with manure smells if you roll that car window down, but other than that drawback, I do appreciate the slower pace, the change of scenery, the fun shopping, their way of life. Could I survive if I were Amish? I think I could. Some Amish are fairly hightech these days. With the New Order of Amish, telephones are allowed in an outbuilding on their property or so my Amish fiction says so. Anyway, I am not that much into talking on the phone. I could give up the computer and just journal with pen and paper. So for a couple of days for the past 6 or so years, I become as close as I can get to being Amish. That suits me for sure and for certain!

Blogging about Jogging

Today was my run day at the Y. I never look forward to my run days. As the 60's song says,"Don't go too fast, but I go pretty far..." Well, I don't go too fast and I don't go too far. The treadmill mileage says 2.3 miles. That is my goal on my run days. By the time I get off the treadmill, I look like I have run much faster and farther. Sweat drenched, I get in my car and head for home to shake a tower (my brother's way of saying take a shower). When it is my lift days, it's not sooooo dreaded. I can lift a total of 24,000 pounds give or take a pound. Since this is spread out over 10 machines, I am able to get sips of water whenever I want and am not a mess when I finish. I can even go to the store afterwards!! When I jog, I hardly ever think I will be able to keep on running for 30 minutes. If I wait until too late in the afternoon to jog, my mind tells me that I won't finish. That is why whether I run in the AM or PM, I listen to songs (hopefully fast songs) on my oh so ancient portable radio/tape player so that I am not thinking about what I am doing. I prefer to go in the morning when I have more energy and then when it is over, I still have a good part of the day to do other things, even fun things! Blogging is one of those fun things. If I were to say what is good about jogging for 30 minutes every other day, it would have to be that I am happy that I did it and at least for today it is over!!!! Yay!

The Lamb

D'Lammchen with two dots over the "a" is Luxembourgish for "The Lamb". The link lets you listen to the first chapter in Luxembourish~if it works that is. Why would I want to listen to a children's devotional in Luxembourgish? Well,the male narrator was led to Christ by my brother! Since my brother is now in heaven I wanted to share this with all my family and friends. The narrator,David Schartz,is sharing The Good News of Jesus to all the people of Luxembourg. There are very few books written in Luxembourish,as it is mostly a spoken language. Although I only speak a couple words of Luxembourgish (yes it is a real language) and do not understand most of what David is saying, it is still exciting to hear this familiar voice and to know that the seed God allowed to be planted through my brother and a handful of Christians many years ago is growing. Thank you for lifting this small but mighty country up so that many will respond when little ones and their parents hear clearly the story of Christ through this book. Oh, it is also available in our language. It is written by John Cross. Bible Devotions for Kids -- The Lamb
Source: www.goodseed.com
Bible Devotions for Kids -- a wonderful, colorful, fully illustrated, children's level explanation of the message of the Bible: The Lamb.
Once you get to the website, you can click on Luxembourg in the sidebar and then click on MP3 under Eischt Kapitel for the ebook.
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Mind Your Peas

We have all been told to mind our P's and Q's during our growing up years. If you have ever been to The Rising Sun Tavern in Olde Town Fredericksburg and taken the tour, the tavern wench would inform you that to mind your P's and Q's really means watch your drinks, your pint of beer or quart of whatever because the bar would be closing soon. This expression had nothing to do with having good manners. When I was a tot, I just watched my P's, not my pint of beer, but my peas. As I have been told many times, I L-O-V-E-D my peas. I still do. They are by far my very favorite veggie.
Anyway, apparently, I was visiting my grandma's house one day and she gave me some wonderful peas on my plate. I gobbled them down and one pea tried to get away by rolling under grandma's table. As the story goes, I spotted the runaway pea and got down under the table and ate it. Although I don't remember any of this, I do not doubt the truth of this tale. As much as I enjoy this green treat today, I now only eat the ones on my plate. Well, if one should roll say on the table, I would go for it. What about you, Erica? :)

Mom's Day of Casting

Today, I took my mother to have her broken wrist put in a cast. When we arrived at the Orthopaedic doctor's office at 10:30 this morning, Dr. Ketz and assistant Stacey fixed mom right up with a spiffy green (the color of money~Mom's favorite color) cast. Do not take this off were the instructions to my mom.
Fast forward to late afternoon and we are back in the pleasant bone specialist's office because my mother somehow managed to pull the cast off while she was supposedly napping. Telling mom to not do something or to do something is a game that
is made up of people giving the instructions and any wall you would pick to play mom's part.
When I called the doctor's office to tell them the cast was off, they asked me to bring her back in. Now it is 5:15 and this time she has an above the elbow spiffy green,the color of money cast. The doctor and assistant Stacey told her do not take this cast off, not when you are sleeping, not any time. I reminded her of this several times riding home. She is now asleep in bed with the cast still on. Does this mean we got through to her? Will she remember what was said? Will we be visiting the nice bone people tomorrow? Will she be put in a full body cast?
Only time will tell.

Picture 1: First cast!




Picture 2: Second cast!

The Fourth of July

Much has been written about the birthday of our great nation. I love our national anthem's meaningful words although I have never been able to hit those high notes properly. The words help me to visualize the birth pangs of our country. Hey, maybe that is why those high notes are there as I sing as though in pain. We are one nation under God as our pledge says. God is sovereign and that means even the people who don't believe in The One True God and who claim America as their home are in for a rude awakening if they choose to be independent from God. My parents and my brother and his wife chose to get married on the fourth of July. My dad would always say, he lost his independence on Independence Day! A cool remembrance of my dad's never-ending wit. None of us are are truly independent. I know I am not. I don't want to be independent. We need each other and we need God most of all every single day of our lives. Maybe a better name for this birthday of our diverse country would be simply Happy Birthday, America. In the Bible study I am currently in, one of the speakers points us to II Samuel 7:18 which says, "Who am I, O Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that You have brought me this far?" I could extend this thought to our country. God has brought us this far. Let's BE His people and never be independent from Him in anything we think or do. Thank you, God for bringing our nation this far.